Love Endures 3
by lipsofanangel22
Summary: Lily is at her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but little does she know what will happen. How long will it take for her to realize that James is always there for her downs?


**_LOVE ENDURES by KELLY _**

Parts

Lily bff crims

Lily crush adam

Lily f1dea lidia

Lily f2 Emma

Lily f3Al

F2 crush

James stalker

James stalker's friend

CRIMSON AVERY THOMPSON

Black hair just past souldiers, green eyes, smart, crims, ave, avery, 5'5", chaser, flirty, pushy if benefit, funny, temper,

ADAM SMITH

Blonde, short, hazel eyes, chaser, 6'2", smart, pushy, not flirty, funny, sarcastic.

LIDIA RIVERSTONE

Hair is golden brown wavy with chocolate brown eyes, 5'4", no quiditch, smart, mysterious flirting, day dreamer, protective,

ALLIE SMITH

Hair is dark brown with red to middle back, brown eyes green with contacts, average, a little flirty,

EMMA JOHENSON

Hair is brown to shoulders, with green, 5'2", smart, sarcastic, a little flirty, and talkative

Chapter one a lily

_Have you ever been loved by someone, but you don't love them back? Or have you ever loved someone who is totally oblivious to it? Well, Lilly Evans has, and trust me, she wishes it wasn't true, for the future is not bright._

The date was August 25th.There lay Lily Evans, a very pretty 17 year old girl with auburn hair. However, she was no ordinary girl. She was in her 7th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Next to her sat her best friend, Crimson Avery Thomas, but everyone called her Crims. She had black hair just past her shoulders and green eyes, with a huge crush on Sirius Black, one of the marauders.

The marauders were everything any girl wanted, except for Lily. They were the pranksters of the school, and loved to prank Snape. There were four marauders: Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and James Potter.

Sirius Black had long black hair that went to his ears with grayish/blue eyes (which Crims thought made him and her a cute couple). He wasn't the smartest one, but he wasn't stupid. He had a master mind for pranks.

Remus Lupin had light brown hair with brown eyes. He definitely was the smartest one, but still liked pranking people. He had a big crush on Emma Johenson, another one of Lily friends, who liked him back, but weren't dating. Lily thought him as the nicest one.

Peter Pettigrew was the least popular one, with brown hair and bluish eyes. He was rather clumsy and followed the rest of the Marauders in there shadows. He had a huge crush on Sara Bueholer, a 6th year Hufflepuff, even thought she thought him as disgusting.

James Potter, the last and most popular of the marauders, was what really made Lily hate the marauders. He had messy black hair and hazel eyes, was great at Quiditch and was always seen with the snitch (which made girls adore him). But that was not what made Lily hate him. It was the fact that he loved and adored her, even though she thought the exact opposite of him. He was always plotting stunts to make her fall for him, he asked her out at least once a day (the record was 18), and was always sending her letters and presents. He loved her and would never give up on her.

"What a rich, arrogant, stupid, snob!" Lily thought out loud. "Did I really just say that out loud?" she said hitting herself on the forehead.

"Yes Lils. Did you mean James? Cause you have been doing that lately…" Crims said, referring to just the other day, where she had done the same thing.

"Um…no…"lied Lily.

"Whatever Lily." Crims replied when an oh-too familiar owl flew in with a letter and box attached to his leg.

"Oh just great. He did this yesterday!" Lily complained. Crims walked over and picked up the letter.

"What on earth does Potter want this time?" Lily said putting her head in her hands.

Crims read the letter out loud:

_Dear my sweetest flower:_

_I sent a present. Just open the box._

_With all the love,_

_James_

_P.S. Will you go out with me?_

"Why would he send me a present?" Lily was getting angry.

"Because he loves you and-" Crims started but stopped when she saw the anger rising. "Lils, he's been sending you letters almost every day, what can you expect?"

"An apology note for all he's done" Lily said.

"The least you can do is open the present!" Crims started walking towards the box.

"NO DON'T!" Lily yelled but it was too late.

Markers flew out of the box and started writing on the walls "LILY LOVES JAMES". A giant banner flew out the window and tied itself to two trees. It read "I'VE CHANGED!" James' voice boomed out of the box and said "Will you go out with me?" and kept repeating it. And another banner flew out and hung itself on her ceiling. This one read:"FROM YOURS TRULY"

All of this commotion at once startled Lily. She just stood there shocked. Crims thought it was all sweet, but just sat there, waiting for Lily to explode. And she didn't have to wait long.

"HOW DARE HIM! HE BETTER NOT THINK THAT I BELIEVE THAT HE'S CHANGED. IT WOULD TAKE A MILLION YEARS FOR HIM TO CHANGE! HE IS JUST EVEN MORE ARROGANT, BRATTY, SNOBBY, AND STUPID! IF THAT IS EVEN POSSIBLE! HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET THAT BANNER OFF OF THOSE TREES! ITS AT LEAST 25 FEET UP! AND THE MARKERS ON THE WALL LOOK PERNAMENT! HOW DARE HIM!"

"Lily calm down" Crims tried, without success.

"CALM DOWN! LOOK HOW MUCH TROUBLE I'M IN" Lily yelled, her voice going hoarse and James's voice still repeating his question.

"Have you forgotten that we are witches?" Crims said.

"Well…we…He…how…well…your…your…" Lily said, not knowing what to say to cover up her stupidity.

"Just say it." Crims said smiling.

"You're… Your right." Lily said, her voice fading. Crims burst out laughing. Lily ignored her and walked over to the box with her wand out, trying to get a better view. But she stopped when she saw what was in there. A yellow lily.

Chapter 2 Surprises

Crims walked over to Lily when she saw that Lily had stopped with her wand pointed inside the box. When Crims saw that it was a lily, she just stared. Lily, forgetting her anger, picked up the lily. It was so pretty and smelled so good she knew she had to keep it, so she summoned a vase with her wand and set the flower in it.

"Sometimes I wish Sirius would do this to me." Crims sighed.

"You're not even dating." Lily said

"Yet. And neither are you and James."

"And never will we." Lily was getting mad again.

"Yeah, right" Crims said. "Let's just clean up this mess, before someone sees." By someone, she met Petunia, Lily's sister who wouldn't hesitate to tell their parents. Lily agreed and the both took out their wands, and made everything disappear.

The day went on, with Lily on a bad temper. At 6:00, Lily's mom called them down for supper. They ran hungrily down the stairs and saw Lily's mom (Marissa), dad (Mathew), Petunia. Lily and Crims sat down next to Lily's parents.

"What was all that yelling about?" Her dad was a get-to-the-point-with-less-talking sort of guy.

"Oh! I…um…stubbed my toe!" Lily lied.

"Really now tell the tru-" but her mom was cut off by tapping on the window. When Lily saw that it was an owl, she jumped out of her chair thinking it was James', but blushed when she saw it was one of Hogwarts owls. She just sat there watching the owl attempt to get in.

"Well are you going to sit there like a freak or go and read a letter delivered by a freak owl like a freak?" Petunia insulted. Lily glared at Petunia, but got up to get the letter and read it to herself, while Crims sat there, still glaring at Petunia. It was a scream from Lily that made her snap out of her trance.

"I'VE BEEN MADE HEAD GIRL! OH MY GOD!"Lily yelled and ran to hug her mom still screaming "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" which made her mom's ear red.

"Honey settle down!" her dad said, covering her mom's ears. Lily gave up and ran to hug Crims, still screaming; now her words were not understandable. Lily ran in circles still screaming.

"FREAK!" yelled Petunia, but over Lily's screams, only Crims could hear her. They must have looked really weird, with Lily screaming and circling the table, her dad covering her mom's ears, Crims and Petunia glaring at each other, and an owl still perched on the windowsill. Finally, Lily stopped and sat back down.

"Is it really that big of a deal?" her father asked uncovering her mom's red ears.

"Are you kidding me? This means everything to Lily. She is the smartest witch, and she deserves it!" Crims said. Lily smiled, her cheeks red, and hugged Crims. Then the phone rang.

"I got it!" said Petunia, who was looking for an opportunity to get away from them. With one last glance at Crims, she got up and left.

"Well, congratulations Lily!" her mom said, speaking rather loudly, because of her ears.

"Sorry mom!"

"Its okay Lil-" her mom started, but was cut off by Petunia, who tossed the phone to Lily, rather harshly, who caught it, signaled to Crims to come upstairs, and walked to her room.

"Hello?" Lily asked.

"Lily? It's Dea and Emma." Dea and Emma were friends of Lily, and shared a dorm with Lily and Crims. Dea had golden brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, with a major crush on Remus Lupin who liked her back, but still, they only flirted, like Crims and Sirius. Emma had brown hair and green eyes, with a crush on Brett Lau, possibly the cutest guy at school, next to James and Sirius. Brett's best friend, Adam Smith, was Lily's crush. Lily put the phone on speaker phone, so all four could talk. Crims was the first.

"LILY IS HEAD GIRL!" she screamed.

"Really? Congratulations" Dea said.

"Yeah, that's great!" Emma added.

"Thanks guys"

"But there's a problem…" Dea said.

"What could possibly be wrong?" Lily frowned.

"Lily, do you know who headboy is?"

"No but hopefully Adam..."

"Dream on Lils" Crims said. "Why can't you see that the person who you truly love is right in front of you?"

Lily punched Crims on the arm.

"You actually didn't scream that time!" Crims joked. Lily rolled her eyes.

"So who's head boy?" Lily asked.

"Well that's the thing…" Dea said.

"What"

"It's James, Lily" Emma said. 'Oh no, here it comes…' she thought.

"WHAT?"

Everyone at both sides of the phone covered there ears.

"JAMES POTTER CANNOT BE HEADBOY. HE IS THE PRANKSTER OF THE SCHOOL! WHAT WAS DUMBLEDORE THINKING? THAT GIVES JAMES MORE TIME AROUND ME!"

"Lily settle down. It's only for this year. I mean, you still have us!" Crims tried.

"BUT JAMES POTTER IS HEADBOY!" Lily got up and sat on the bed.

"Um… we got to go. Bye" Dea said and hung up.

"Lily, are you ok?"

"NO. I just wish someone else was headboy… I mean WHY IS HE HEADBOY?"

Crims heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Lily, someone's coming!" but the door had already opened and there stood Petunia.

"Hey freak. Mom wanted to know why the freak was yelling again, so I was sent against my free will to check on the freak."

"I'm fine" and with that Petunia stormed off.

Hours went buy, where Crims and Lily talked, avoiding the topic of James. Crims talked about Sirius, while Lily talked of Adam, until they fell asleep, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day, but oh how wrong they were.

AT THE POTTER MANSION

"You sure you wanna do this?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, I mean why not?" James asked

"Well I have 3 reasons. For one: Lily would hate you more. 2: Do you realize your parents would freak if they found out?" Sirius said

James rolled his eyes. "Sirius, that was two not three. And I'm sure I'm going to do this."

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yes and no. I'm serious, but you're Sirius." James laughed at the look of confusion on his faced. "Come on lets go."

Lily and Crims woke up at 9:00 and went down to breakfast. Everybody was already up, so they sat down and started eating their pancakes.

"Lily, what do you all need at Diagon Alley?" her mom asked.

"We're going today?" Lily and Crims said at the same time.

"Yes" Lily and Crims squealed

"When are we going?" Crims asked.

"Well, we both have to work, and seeing as you don't have your license… We'll have about an hour to shop." Her mom said.

"WHAT? An hour is not long enough!" Lily said.

"Well today is the least busy day this week, so don't complain. We are leaving at 5:00." And with that, her parents stomped off into the living room.

"That sucks!" Crims said.

"Come on let's go upstairs!" Lily ordered. But she had no idea what was waiting for her in her room.

When Lily got inside her room, all seemed normal. Until she heard the scratching, and saw the owl.

"WHAT ON EARTH DOES POTTER WANT!" Lily screamed. Crims walked toward the owl. Once again it had a letter and a box. She opened the letter and read it out loud:

_Dear the sweetest Lily,_

_I know you didn't like the last present but I promise that this one is better._

_James_

Crims made to open the box, but Lily screamed "DON'T! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS!" But once again, she was too late. Not because Crims had opened it (because she didn't), but because whatever was in it, came out.

There sat miniature James Potter and Sirius Black. They were the size of markers, until they said "Enlargo" and they became normal size. James smiled at the look on Lily's face. But Crims had to cover Lily's mouth so her parents wouldn't hear. But you could still see her face growing red. Crims took her hand off of Lily's mouth.

"What are you doing here?" Lily said icily.

"Well, we heard you didn't have enough time to go to Diagon Alley, so we, being the smart things we are, decided to rescue you from your shopping crisis." Sirius said. Crims was the only one that laughed.

"How did you know?" Lily asked.

"Well, we've been up here for awhile, and that box is quite uncomfortable, so we decided to come out. No one can miss the screams of a girl with no shopping time." James answered, and before Lily could say anything, James and Sirius walked out of the room.

"They can't go downstairs! My parents will freak if they so two cute boys in my room!"

"Did you just call James cute?" asked Crims, but Lily just ran out the room following James and Sirius, hoping her parents had not seen. But she was wrong.

"Lily, what are these BOYS doing here? Were they in your room?" her mom asked.

"Mom, this is James Potter, and Sirius Black. James is-" Lily said but was cut off by James.

"Her boyfriend, and escort to Diagon Alley. She told me that an hour was not long enough, and asked me and Sirius to take her."

"WHAT?" Lily yelled.

When Lily's mom walked away to get her dad, James whispered: "You do need more then an hour right?"

"Well, yes, but BOYFRIEND!"

"Trust me. Why else would your parents let me take you to Diagon Alley and stay there at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"James, I don't think this is going to work…" but to late. In came her parents. And to her surprise, they were smiling.

"Lily, we didn't know you had a boyfriend!" her dad sad.

"Well…um…yeah. I guess it started the end of last year." Lily said, finally catching on to James' drift.

"That's great!" Lily was surprised at her mom's answer. So was Crims. Sirius just stood there, staring at Crims' back, but no one noticed.

"Yep. Here's proof." James said. And to everyone's surprise, he leaned in and kissed Lily.

'This is what I've been missing on all these years,' thought James. He wanted it to last forever. But he knew that would be too much in order for his plan to work.

Finally, they broke apart. And to everyone's surprise, Lily was smiling.

"Well… you seem like a nice guy…" Lily's dad said.

Lily, still smiling said: "So is it ok if I go to Diagon Alley and append the rest of the summer at the Leaky Cauldron?"

Her dad looked at James, (who was staring at Lily), then at Sirius (who was staring at Crims), then to his wife, who nodded her head. "Fine."

"Yes!" Crims said, and Lily and James, Crims, and Sirius (who had finally broken out of his trance) ran up the stairs to pack.

"What on earth was that about?" Crims said.

"Well, you needed more time at Diagon Alley right?" Lily said.

"Lily. That's not what I meant. Can I talk to you ALONE?" she said, looking first at James scowling, then at Sirius, only to find him staring at her. She was shocked and just stood there staring at him.

"Yeah really. I need to talk to Sirius too." James said. Sirius finally realized that Crims was staring at him, and was so startled he jumped backwards, only to trip over the box he came out of. Lily and James burst out laughing, but Crims looked worried and walked over to Sirius and offered a hand to help him up.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"Yeah" he said, rubbing his head.

"I need to talk to you NOW!" James said, pointing to Sirius.

"It's rude to point fingers now." Sirius said in a high-pitched voice.

"Come on Lily. Let's talk in your bathroom." Crims said walking into the bathroom. Lily followed.

:IN THE BATHROOM

"Lily, what was that all about?"

"I told you. I pretended to be his boyfriend because I needed more time at Diagon Alley. And you should be happy! We get to spend the rest of the summer there!"

"That's not what I meant!" Crims argued.

"What then?"

"When you broke away from your KISS with JAMES POTTER, you were SMILING!" yelled Crims.

"I…um… was acting!" Lily lied.

"Lily, I'm your best friend and I know when you lie…" Crims said.

"I AM NOT LYING!" yelled Lily.

Crims knew better then to get Lily angry, so she simply said: "Whatever"

"I have something to ask you…" Lily said.

"What?"

"What's with you and Sirius?"

"I don't know. The same as always. I like him. Period."

"I think he likes you too" Lily said. Crims smiled and said:

"We could go on a double date. Just me and Sirius and you and James."

Lily rolled her eyes and said "Come on. Let's go back to my room."

IN THE ROOM WITH JAMES AND SIRIUS

"What do you want?" Sirius asked.

"You are totally crushing on Crims"

"SO?"

"You should ask her out!"

"Why? She probably doesn't even like me!" Sirius said.

"How blind are you? She adores you? Ever since 4th year!"

"How would you know?" Sirius asked.

"She told me. She wanted to know if you liked her. I said no, but now that you do, you should ask her out!

"YOU TOLD HER NO!" Sirius asked.

"That was in fourth year, when you were dating the first Rachel." James said.

"Oh yeah.." Sirius said. "What about you and Lily? She seemed happy after that kiss."

"I'm sure she was just acting." James said frowning.

"That was not a fake smile Jam-" but was cut off when Lily and Crims walked in.

They all stood in silence, thinking about the conversations they just had. Lily, desperate to start a conversation, remembered that James was headboy.

"Hey James. I heard you were headboy. Congratulations!" she said.

"You mean you're not mad that we have to share a dorm all by ourselves?" James asked.

"Well, I realized tha-" Lily stopped mid-sentence. "WE HAVE TO SHARE A DORM BY OURSLEVES!"

"You didn't know?"

"NO! DEA AND EMMA JUST TOLD ME THAT YOU WERE HEADBOY! BUT SHARING A DORM? WHAT WILL I DO WITHOUT MY FRIENDS?"

"You mean that the only problem with sharing a dorm with me, James Potter, and only me, is not being with your friends?" he asked.

"Yes. My friends are everything to me. Sharing a dorm with you and only you is fi-" she said but stopped when she realized what she was saying. "I mean- SHARING A DORM WITH YOU IS HORRIBLE!" but it didn't do any good. Crims and Sirius were smiling. James walked over and put his arm around her waist, and said:

"Don't we look great together?"

"IN YOUR DREAMS POTTER!" Lily pulled away and sat on the bed. But what James said was true, and she new it. Flustered, she got up and said a spell to pack her and Crims stuff, and walked out the door and down the steps. Crims followed, then Sirius. But before James left, he noticed the lily, the one he sent her, in a vase on her dresser. He smiled and walked out.

Crims, Sirius, and James all walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Lily wasn't there. They walked into the living room to see Lily hugging her dad and mom, saying her goodbyes. Crims walked over and hugged Lily's parents and when she let go, she saw Lily attempting to say bye to Petunia.

"Well, um… bye?" Lily stuck out her hands, trying to hug Petunia, but Petunia backed away and said:

"Why would I hug a freak?" and ran upstairs.

"I don't know why I put up with her." And with a final wave to her parents, Lily apparated to the Leaky Cauldron, Crims, Sirius, and James following suit.

When they got there, Crims and Lily saw Emma, Dea, and Allie Smith, another one of their friends.

"Lils!" Over here!" she yelled. Crims and Lily ran over to them, while Sirius and James walked off to find Remus and Peter.

"Did you just apparate here with James and Sirius?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, another one of his "tricks", but it actually did some good! He got us to Diagon Alley!"

"Did James…um… did he tell you that you have to share a dorm?" asked Dea.

"Yeah, it's gonna suck being away from you guys."

"LET'S GO SHOPPING!" Allie yelled. And so they did. They went from Flourish and Blotts to Alisa's Robes. They stopped at Sara's Ice Cream and ordered some shakes. About halfway threw hers, Emma felt someone tap her on the back. She jumped, almost spilling her strawberry shake, and turned around to see Brett Lau, Emma's crush. He, being one of the cutest guys at Hogwarts, was being followed by a group of girls.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out to lunch with me, but I see you're busy."

He almost walked away when Emma said, "WAIT!" and with a look to her friends, who nodded, she walked up to him and said "I'm not busy." And off they went.

"AWW! They're so cute together!" Dea said.

"What's happening between you and Remus?" Crims asked.

Dea looked sad. "I don't know. I wish I knew if he liked me, because if he didn't, I wouldn't waste my time with him."

"Well, look at James! I mean, He's been after her for 6 years! And I think she's finally falling for him! 6 YEARS OF WAITING! And he's finally getting what he wanted!"

Lily glared at Crims. "What did you say?"

"I was just talking about when you guys kissed nothing else I PROMISE!" Crims lied.

"Whatever. It meant nothing."

"Wait a moment. YOU KISSED? Allie said. And Crims explained the whole story, while Lily, bored, looked around for someone familiar. But what she saw was the four Marauders, being followed by Alisa and Megan, two Slytherine girls, who spent most of their time stalking the Marauders, Megan spending her time staring at the back of James' head. Some called her obsessed. But she was in love.

James caught Lily staring at him, and blew a kiss to her. Lily rolled her eyes and turned back to her friends.

"-then we aparated here." Crims finished. Everyone looked at Lily and smiled.

"What did you all tell them?"

"Everything." Crims replied. Lily was about to respond, when something hit her back.

"OW" She turned around and saw all the marauders with Megan and Alisa in their shadows. James was holding a slingshot.

"Hey Lily! I didn't ask you yet today, and after our KISS (he said kiss really loud so everyone could hear him) I was wondering if you would go out with me!"

"YOU WISH!" Lily screamed. She looked around, hoping Adam had not overheard, relieved to see he didn't, and said to her friends "Let's go!", and off they went, back to Diagon Alley. When they got there, Dea told them that she and Allie had better go find Emma, because her mom wasn't allowing them to stay the next week, and they had to leave in 30 minutes. After saying there goodbyes, Crims and Lily went to get keys to their rooms.

When they got to the hallway outside their rooms, they heard talking. Lily immediately recognized the voice. It was Adam and Brett. THE Adam.

"So how was your date with Emma" he asked.

"Fine. We said we would meet tomorrow. What about you and Lily? When are you going to ask her?" Brett asked.

"Right now. That is why we came down here right?" Adam asked, starting to turn Lily's way. Lily and Crims ran into their room.

"OH MY GOD! ADAM SMITH IS ASKING YOU OUT!" Crims shouted.

"I KNOW!" Lily said, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "That's him!" she whispered. "How do I look?"

"Fine. Like always. Well, are you going to answer it?" Crims asked.

"Ok, here I go." And with a last nod from Crims, who stepped into the bathroom so they could have privacy, Lily opened the door, and in her sweetest voice, said "Hello?" and with a sharp intake of breath, added. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!"

"Well, saying hi to you of course!" James said.

"LEAVE NOW!" She yelled, but when she looked down the hallway, and saw Adam walking towards her, she added "Please."

James looked where Lily was looking at, and saw Adam. "Oh. It's him." James said, trying not to sound hurt. "I was wondering if you would-" but stopped when he saw that Adam was right behind him.

"Hey Lily, I wanted to know if you wanted to…um… meet me at lunch tomorrow?" Adam asked nervously. James looked worriedly at Adam. He was wondering how he would take it when Lily said no. She would say no right? 'I mean after all those years of rejecting me, why would she say yes the first time to Adam?' he thought.

"Of course." Lily said, smiling happily. But the look on James' face was exactly the opposite. He showed no expression, except grief. 'Why would she do that in front of me? She knows how I feel. That I love her. What does she see in this "Adam"?' and with a last look at Lily's joyful face, he walked off to Remus and Sirius, who were waiting for him at the end of the hall. He didn't know where Peter was, and he didn't care. His mind was set on winning Lily's heart.

"How'd it go?" Remus asked him nervously. James ignored him. He walked on, his mind focused on one thing: Lily.

"-and then I said yes! We decided on 11:00 tomorrow morning at Sarah's Ice Cream." Lily said, excited. Crims face looked blank. "Aren't you happy for me?" Lily asked her.

"Of course. It's just- what did James do when he heard you say yes?" Crims asked.

"I um… don't know. I think he left," Lily said.

"So you didn't even care how he feels that after years and years of James asking you out, with you saying no, he sees you say yes to somebody else the first time?"

"I DO CARE! AND WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON HERE?" Lily yelled.

"YOURS! I'M YOUR BEST FRIEND!"

"WELL YOUR NOT ACTING LIKE IT!" Lily shouted.

"LILY EVANS! I THOUGHT YOU WERE ACTUALLY STARING TO BE NICE TO JAMES! BUT NOT AFTER WHAT YOU JUST DID TO HIM! IMAGINE HOW HE FEELS!"

"BAD. AND I DO CARE!"

"SO YOU DO HAVE FEELINGS TOWARD HIM?" Crims asked, getting angry.

"Yes!" but now Lily Evans, the strong girl who never cried, was crying.

"Then why did you sat yes to Adam?"

"I don't know!" Lily cried.

"WELL FIGURE IT OUT!" Crims shouted, and with that, turned out the lights and laid down.

"Fine. I like James. But I'm not ready to date him. Not after all he's done." Lily said more to herself than Crims, and still crying, she fell asleep.

Crims woke up the next morning. She had decided that she would apologize to Lily for exploding in her face. But when she rolled over, she saw that Lily's bed was empty. Then she looked at the clock. 11:30. Lily had gone to her date with Adam. So Crims got up, determined to find Sirius. She would apologize later.

"So, who's your favorite Quiditch team?" Adam asked. He and Lily were sitting around a table, licking some ice cream cones.

"England. Totally." She loved Quiditch, and as far as she was concerned, this date was off to a good start.

"Same here! Do you think they'll make it to the World Cup?" he asked.

"I don't know. Depends if Bulgaria loses." She replied.

"Hopefully they do." Adam laughed. So did Lily. Then she saw one of the table clothes move around on the table. Her thought was cut off by Adam.

"Do you want to go to my room and talk?"

"Sure. What num-" She started, but stopped when she saw the table cloth move again.

"What?" asked Adam. Lily pointed to the suspicious table, curious. But when Adam lifted the table cloth, what was under there made her furious. (it rhymes! lol)

Sirius Black came out of the table

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING UNDER THERE! AND WHERE'S JAMES?

"Over here!" and there he was. He came out from under a different table. "Cant let Sirius take all the blame." He said walking over to Sirius, waiting for Lily to erupt.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING UNDER THERE? WERE YOU SPYING ON ME AND ADAM?" she said, looking at Adam for support. But to her surprise, he was laughing.

"WHAT'S SO FUNNY? I THOUGHT YOU WERE CARING! AND TRUSTWORTHY! BUT OH BOY WAS I WRONG! AND YOU!" She said, looking at James. "I BELIEVED THAT YOU CHANGED! I WAS GOING TO GIVE YOU A CHANCE! BUT YOU JUST BLEW IT!" and with that, she stormed off.

'Way to go James. You just blew your chance with Lily, the girl of your dreams.' he thought.

When Lily got back to her dorm, she found it empty. She sat down on her bed, thinking about what had happened the last couple nights. Had she really meant it when she said she liked James? As a friend? No she decided. She gave him a chance, and he blew it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her door.

She sighed, and got up to answer it, but no one was there. She was about to close the door, when she heard some one yell "Look down." And she did. There sat a beautiful red rose and a golden envelope underneath the rose. She smiled and picked it up. She read out loud:

Dear Lily,

I am so sorry for what I did back there. You're right. It wasn't funny. What they did was cruel. So, see you at Hogwarts?

Love,

Adam

Lily set the letter and the rose down. She really wasn't that mad at Adam. It was just James. James and Sirius. She sat there on the bed for what felt like hours, until Crims came in.

"Hey Lily." She said, but Lily didn't answer. "I was looking for Sirius. Don't know why, I guess I just needed someone to talk to, because you were gone. But he was no where. Then I heard you yelling, and followed you back here. I wanted to say sorry. For exploding in your face. Sorry."

"Crims, I should be sorry. What you said was right. I just needed time to think. And I was crabby." Crims walked over to her and they hugged. "By the way, you said you were looking for Sirius. I know where he was." And so Lily told Crims about the date. Lily was glad they weren't fighting. She needed someone to talk to.

And so the final week of summer went by. Lily spent almost all her days shopping. She hadn't seen James or any of the other marauders since Lily and Adam's first date. Adam went home for the rest of the summer, spending time with his family. On the morning of September 1st, Lily got up, whispered "pack" so her stuff would go straight into her bag, and woke Crims up. Crims muttered "pack", and they decided to walk to platform nine and three quarters. Once the started walking, Lily was not surprised to hear a voice, (a way to familiar voice) call out, "Lily-flower! I need to talk to you!" Lily ignored him.

"Lils! Turn around!" But Lily ignored him still.

"LILY!" he yelled,

"What do you want James?" Lily yelled, finally turning around.

"You to go out with me. But I know the answer. You are already taken. So what I want is to be friends. Just friends." James said, then added whispering, "For now."

Lily was about to yell. Her mind told her no, he had pranked her to many times, and embarrassed her to many times. But her heart told her differently. Her heart said yes, being friends would mean nothing more. Just friends. Her mind won over, telling her that this was just another prank. She was about to say no, until she saw his face. The look. He was serious.

"Um… James, are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Is this a prank?"

"No"

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Fine. Friends." Lily smiled and stuck out her hand to shake his hand.

James heart skipped a beat. He loved to see her smile, especially at him. He stood there, staring into her beautiful eyes. How he wanted to be more than friends, but he knew he couldn't at least not now.

"James?" Lilly asked.

James smiled and stuck out her hand. They shook hands, looking into each other's eyes. Lily thought she made the right choice. Finally they let go, and Lily turned around, skipping towards Crims, who was staring at Lily as if she were a total stranger.

"Did you just agree to be friends with James Potter?" she asked.

"Yeah." And with that, she skipped on, past Crims, to platform nine and three quarters. Crims followed.

JAMES POV

James watched Lily skip to the platform, and then saw her (still skipping) go through the brick wall. He couldn't believe she said yes. Maybe the Potter charm was working.

"Earth to James!" James had not noticed that Sirius had been waving his hand in font of James' face.

"Hey." James said, and following Lily, he walked on through the brick wall.

BACK TO LILY

Lily and Crims walked onto the train and started searching the corridors for Emma, Dea, and Allie. Finally they found them, and the train started moving.

"Hi guys. How was the past week?" Dea asked.

"Nothing much." Lily said, but Crims interrupted.

"Yeah. Right." She interrupted. "Adam asked Lily out, and Lily agreed to be friends with James Potter."

"Really? Lily and James friends?" Emma asked.

"What's the big deal? We are just friends!" Lily argued.

"You always hated him. And now you're friends. And you're dating Adam?" Allie asked.

Lily smiled and answered, "Yeah."

"Already cheating on James, huh?" Dea said. Everyone laughed, except Lily, who rolled her eyes.

They talked on and on for an hour, until Crims said: "Lily, when's your head girl meeting?"

Lily looked at her watch and said: "Now. Bye!" She walked out of their compartment and into the corridor, trying to find James so they could go together. When she saw Sirius' laughing head sticking out of a set of doors, she said, "What's so fun-" but stopped when she realized what was funny. But it wasn't funny at all.

"SIRIUS! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!" she yelled. For what she saw was Severus Snape, possibly the marauders favorite person to prank. He was tied to a post, with his pants pulled down and boxers with pink hearts were showing. James' head appeared behind Sirius', and they were now both laughing. They turned their heads when they heard Lily yell. James' face dropped.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM?" Lily screamed.

"You have to admit that it is pretty funny. I mean, look at his boxers!" Sirius tried.  
Lily took out her wand and undid the roped tying Snape up. Snape walked up to her and said:

"Don't try saving me again. You little mudblood!" and with that, he walked off. James and Sirius looked nervously at Lily. She sat down inside of the empty compartment across from them. James instinctively walked over into the compartment and sat down next to her.

"You ok?" he asked. Lily didn't respond. She was looking out the window, at the beautiful scenery of England. About a minute later she responded:

"All I did was save him. And this is what he does."

"That's because he's Snape." James said, and put an arm around her waist. "Evil Snape." Lily got up, not quite sure if it was right to have some one else's arm around her besides Adam.

"Let's go to the meeting." She said. James nodded, but looked disappointed.

"Lets go." He said.

AT THE PREFECT MEETING

"And here is a list of patrol schedules. Note that you must give out detentions to anyone you see out past curfew, even your friends" Lily said, looking at James. James handed out the schedules, and dismissed everyone. Lily and James were soon the only ones left in the compartment.

"Bye." She said, looking at James again.

"Bye. And sorry" he said

"For what?" she asked.

"For everything." He said, and walked out the door. Adam came in after James left.

"Hey, handsome." She greeted him.

"I guess you're forgiven me then?" Adam asked.

"Yeah. I guess." She said. He smiled and sat down next to Lily.

"I know we've only gone on one date, but this seems right. I mean, it's not to often you really connect one the first date. Not counting that fight."

"I know." Lily agreed. He leaned in to kiss her, and she kissed back. 'He's nothing compared to James. Sure, Adam's a great kisser, but James is better.' She thought. 'Wait, what am I doing comparing him to James?' she hit herself on the forehead.

"Something wrong?" Adam asked, seeing that she had hit herself. Lily, realizing he must have thought that he had done something wrong, replied:

"No." and kissed him again. Then they talked for a couple more minutes, until Lily told him that her friends were probably worrying about her. He said bye, and walked her to her friend's compartment.

"Hey Lily! What took you so long?" Allie asked, looking at Adam, who had already started walking away. Lily told them about the prefect meeting and her conversation to Adam.

"Wow. He must be a great kisser." Crims said. Lily just nodded, not telling them that she had compared him to James.

"We're here!" Dea called, jumping out of her seat. Lily looked out her window, and sure enough, hundreds of horseless carriages stood there, waiting to take off. And in the distance, Lily could see the outline of Hogwarts. Her home.

Lily, Crims, Dea, Emma, and Allie all squeezed into one carriage. Emma, who loved to talk and gossip, was informing all of them that Michael Lean and Rachel Mcflaggen, were now seen dating. Everyone laughed.

"Has anyone seen Remus lately? I haven't seen him since Diagon Alley." Dea said.

"OoOoOo! Is somebody crushing?" Crims asked.

"Oh come on Crims. You know that Dea has had a crush on Remus for quite awhile!" Emma said.

"Yeah, and I think she should ask him out!"

"A GIRL? Ask a BOY? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" Emma screamed.

"I'm thinking that they make a great couple!" Crims replied. Dea smiled and said:

"We'll see."

Soon enough, they arrived at Hogwarts, and got out of their carriage, only to see that the marauders were in the carriage behind them, smiling, especially Remus.

"I wonder what they're smiling about." Allie asked.

"Who knows." Lily said, and walked into the great hall.

BACK IN THE CARRIAGE WITH THE MARAUDERS

"You sure you wanna do this?" James asked Sirius. "You know how mad they got the last time we did this."

"Positive." He responded. Sirius looked at Remus, who nodded and dug into his bag, looking for something. And he found it.

"Here it is! The "Ever-Hearing-Ear-Radar." The best in stock." Remus said, while Sirius smiled. Remus had pulled out something similar to a megaphone. He held it out of the window, and pointed it at the girls' carriage in front of them.

"Ready?" Remus asked.

"Yeah" James and Sirius responded. Remus pressed a button on the megaphone-thing and the carriage was blasted with noises.

: "Has anyone seen Remus lately? I haven't seen him since Diagon Alley." Dea said.

:"OoOoOo! Is somebody crushing?" Crims asked.

: "Oh come on Crims. You know that Dea has had a crush on Remus for quite awhile!" Emma said.

: "Yeah, and I think she should ask him out!"

: "A GIRL? Ask a BOY? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" Emma screamed.

: "I'm thinking that they make a great couple!" Crims replied. Dea smiled and said:

: "We'll see."

Remus blushed. James laughed. Sirius smiled, and punched Remus on the shoulder. Soon enough they got to Hogwarts.

"Hey, has anyone seen Peter?" James asked.

"No." Sirius replied.

They started walking towards the castle, Remus smiling broadly. When they got to the Great Hall, they immediately sat down next to Lily and her friends, and right away, Dumbledore began his opening speech, which was surprisingly short.

"Welcome the old and the new." He said, and with a nod to Professor McGonagall, the frightened first years came in, and stumbled down towards the professor's table. McGonagall came in behind with the sorting hat and a stool. She made her way through the first years and up to the teachers table.

"When I call of your name, please step up and sit on the stool." She said. "Arkle, Annabel." A timid looking girl came up and sat on the stool. McGonagall set the hat on the girls head. Immediately, the hat shouted out:

"SLYTHERIN!" She got up, smiling, and walked over to the cheering Slytherin table and sat down.

"Beverson, Haley." And so the list went on. After "Zinger, Fred" was sorted into Gryffindor, Dumbledore stood up and said:

"Welcome back to a new year at this wonderful school of witchcraft and wizardry. To all newcomers and some old" he said, smiling at the Marauders, "The forbidden forest, as it says in the name, is forbidden. Also, Professor Filch would like me to say the list of rules, but it is too long, so please take the time to read the list, located on in the entrance. Let the feast begin." And with that, food magically appeared on the once empty plates.

Lily smiled and began eating her chicken. Remus was smiling at Dea, who was talking to Emma, who was also looking at Brett, who was walking by. James was looking at Lily, thinking about if they got married, where it would be. Sirius was staring at Crims, thinking hard. Crims appeared to be daydreaming. Allie and Lily started talking about their classes this year.

"Are you taking Muggle Studies again this year?" Allie asked her.

"Yeah. Its pretty easy, being muggle born and all."

"I wish I was that smart." Allie was a muggle born too. Lily laughed, but stopped when she heard James speak.

"I'm in Muggle Studies too." He said.

Lily laughed and replied, "Were you eavesdropping?"

"Totally. What else do you expect the world's greatest prankster to do?" he said.

"Get a life." Lily answered. They both laughed. Everyone stopped what they were saying (or in Sirius' case, staring) and looked at the pair. They were actually getting along! Adam saw this too, and walked over to Lily.

"Hey" he said, in his oh-too-cute voice.

"Hi" she replied. Adam bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. When James saw this, he glared at Adam and thought, 'I'm finally getting along with Lily, when this guy interrupts and kisses her!' He immediately started thinking up of plans to prank him. He knew that this Adam guy was no good news. He was known for leaving a girl within the first couple weeks. And doing it heartbreakingly too. Not that he wasn't nice, he just wasn't right for Lily.

After Adam got introduced to everyone around Lily, (James smiled when she called him a friend) he told Emma that Brett wanted to talk to her. Emma looked nervous.

"It's not like that." Adam said. Emma looked relieved, and after Adam pointed to where Brett was standing, she got up and walked over to him. They both took of, toward the north tower. Lily, Dea, and Allie smiled.

"Well, I should get going. I need my beauty sleep." Lily said, laughing.

"May I be your escort?" Adam asked. Lily nodded, and off they went.

AT THE GRYFFINDOR TABLE

James watched sadly as they walked up the Grand Staircase. Sirius mouthed what James was thinking:

"I don't know what she sees in him." Sirius said.

"Me neither." Remus said. The girls looked confused.

"He's a great guy! And cute!" Dea said.

"Do you even know him?" Sirius asked.

"Well, not really…" Dea started.

"I've had almost all of my classes with him, and trust me, he's nice and all, but he doesn't know how to break up with some one politely." Remus said. James silently agreed.

"But you said it yourself! He's a nice guy! And so what if he breaks girls hearts! Maybe he won't need to with Lily! Maybe they're soul mates!" Emma said. James looked hurt at this. But, deep down in his heart, something told him that maybe they were right. Maybe he should give up. Maybe she won't ever like him. 'Well, maybe isn't good enough.' He thought. Right?

BACK TO LILY AND ADAM

"So… what classes are you taking this year?" he asked.

"What aren't I taking?" they both laughed. "But it sucks that we don't have the same classes." (Adam is a year younger than Lily)

"I know." He said. Once they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Adam said: "So this is where the great Gryffindor common room is, huh? I'll show you the Hufflepuff sometime soon…"

Lily laughed, and met to say the password, but Adam stopped her.

"One more thing. Would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asked.

"Of course!" she said. Adam smiled, and Bent down to kiss her. Once they broke apart, Adam took off back down the stairs, smiling. Lily, also smiling, said "Butterbeer" and the portrait swung open.

BACK WITH THE GANG

Emma, Dea, Allie, James, Sirius, and Remus were having a wonderful time, eating and talking, when the entrance doors burst open. Someone walked over toward the Gryffindor table. Once he got closer, they realized who it was. Peter. He was sopping wet, and looked mad.

"Where were you Wormtail?" Remus asked.

"Missed. Carriage. Walked. Here. It. Rained. HARD!" he said, in between gasps.

"We can tell." Sirius said. Everyone burst out laughing, except Peter, who mumbled something like "fools" and sat down gulping down chicken.

"Let's go." James said, noticing that they were the only Gryffindors left. The others nodded.

"But I just got here!" Peter said, angrily. But no one noticed. They all got up and walked away without him.

They talked all the way up the Grand Staircase, until they heard doors slam shut, and some one grunting. They looked down to see Peter, swearing as his cloak got caught in the door. They laughed.

Once they got to the last staircase, close to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Dea looked up to see Adam asking Lily to be his girlfriend. She didn't want James to see, so she elbowed Sirius in the stomach. He saw what she was talking about, and desperate to create a distraction, he pointed fiercely at the lowest level, yelling

"JAMES LOOK!"

"What?" James said, turning around. He looked down and saw nothing. "Are you okay Sirius?" he asked.

"Fine." Sirius started, but when he saw James turning toward Lily, and saw what was happening between Adam and Lily, he ran to James, trying desperately to stop him from seeing. Sirius, in his rush, knocked James over. Sirius looked relieved, thinking that James had not seen. But he was wrong. James looked up to see Lily and Adam kissing. Passionately.

"Oh no." Sirius said. The look on James face was pure grief. He stared at them for what seemed like hours. His eyes were drooping down, and were close to watering.

'Good going James. Your last year with Lily and last chance of winning her over is being crushed.' He tried reminding himself not to give up. But he couldn't think at all. It took him awhile to realize that Lily had already gone inside.

Crims walked over to Adam, steering him away from James' range.

"Come on. Let's go." Sirius said to James. James silently walked over to the portrait, and waited for Sirius to say the password.

"Butterbeer." Sirius finally said. James walked in quickly, leaving Sirius behind. When James walked in, the first thing he saw was Lily. By the fireplace. Smiling. James ignored her, and telling himself that tomorrow would be better, he strode over to his dormitory.

LILY POV

"Butterbeer." And in she walked. Immediately she ran over to the fireplace, her favorite spot. She smiled, thinking about Adam. If only she knew more about him. Maybe he'd ask her out soon. But where would they go? What would she wear? She began worrying, thinking maybe she wasn't ready.

Then, she heard the portrait swinging open, and looked to see who it was. When she saw it was James, she smiled, and was about to wave, but stopped when she saw him looking at her. She had seen that look before. Pure grief. She stopped smiling, thinking that maybe he saw her and Adam. He didn't want him to think that she was smiling because of Adam, because it was only partially true. For the truth was that her smile had truly lit up because of James. She didn't know why she smiled for James. But she did, and he needed to know.

"Ja-" but stopped when she saw that he had already left. "Never mind then."

The portrait swung open again. In came Sirius, Remus, Dea, Crims, and Allie.

"Where's Emma?" Lily asked.

"Still with Brett." Crims said. Lily smiled.

"Why'd you do that to James?" Sirius asked, looking angry.

"Do what?" Lily asked.

"You know." Sirius said angrily.

"James saw you with Adam." Remus added. Lily frowned.

"So?" she said.

"SO? HE'S ONLY HAD A CRUSH ON YOU SINCE LIKE 1ST YEAR! THIS IS HIS LAST CHANCE! AND WHEN HE FINALLY HAS YOU AS A FRIEND, HE SEES YOU KISSING SOMEONE ELSE?" Sirius bellowed.

"Sirius, calm down." Crims tried, putting her hand on his shoulder. Sirius shook his head, and stormed up to the boy's dormitory. Remus followed.

"We should get going too. Are you coming Lily?" Dea asked.

"I'll be right up." Lily answered. "I just need some alone time. Good night."

Crims walked over and hugged Lily. Then, Dea, Allie, and Crims walked away to the girl's dormitory.

Lily sat back down on the big red chair and stared into the fireplace. 'What a first day' Lily sighed.

The portrait opened once again and in came Emma followed by Peter.

"Hey Lily!" Emma said cheerfully, but noticed that Lily was looking down, and added "What's wrong."

Lily smiled sadly at the lasting-cheerfulness on her face that only Brett would bring. "Nothing."

Emma smiled also and ran up the stairs, yelling "Good night!" as she went. Peter mumbled something like "girls" and he too stumbled up the stairs.

Lily stared into the fire. She was confused with her feelings toward Adam; he loved her, but did she love him back? Then she thought a James, and wondered what he was thinking. Not before long, she fell asleep.

JAMES POV

James woke up, thinking about his dream. Like always, it was about Lily. But this time it was different. Usually in his dreams, she acts oblivious to him, and doesn't like him. But this time, they actually got married. 'How unusual' he thought, but he couldn't help but smile. 'But she's with Adam. Not me' then frowned.

After taking a shower and putting his clothes down, he ran down the steps, realizing that he was the last one to get up. But he was wrong. Once he got to the bottom, he realized that Lily was sleeping gracefully near the fireplace. She looked like an angel. Still staring and not looking where he was going, he ran into a table.

"OW" he screamed, then shut himself up when he realized that he would wake up Lily. But it was too late. When he noticed her eyes opening, he quickly ran out the portrait, which gave Lily just enough time to see the back of his head, and the messy black hair.

She smiled, then realized that he had probably ran because of her, frowned. And once again she was confused with her feelings. Why was she sad for James leaving, when she had one of the cutest guys at school?

"Just forget it" she told herself, and, still tired, she got up to get dressed.

Lily entered the Great Hall, only to be greeted by Adam, who kissed her gently on the lips.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

"Slept in." she replied yawning. He laughed.

"Well, you missed breakfast, and now we both are late for class."

Lily laughed. Surprisingly, she was not upset for missing class. "Bye."

"See ya." He replied. Lily took off running to her first class, Muggle Studies. On the way there, she ran into none other than James.

"What are you doing? We're late for class!" she yelled at him. He smiled his adorable smile.

"Friends go to class late together, don't they?" he asked. Lily smiled, and said

"Of course."

When they got to the Muggle Studies classroom with Professor Seagul, the professor immediately said:

"Will you sit by me?" James asked. He knew that he would never win her heart by getting mad over a single kiss.

Lily knew that none of her friends took this class, so she nodded her head, and together they sat in the back.

"Today we will be studying the keyboard muggles use on a "computer"." Professor began. Lily sighed, already bored.

As the class started, and with Lily being bored, she focused her glance on the back of James' head, who was staring the opposite way towards the quiditch pitch. When James turned around and saw that Lily was staring at him, he smiled. She turned her attention to the front of the room, where the professor was now attempting to plug in the computer.

She felt something nudge her shoulder. She looked and saw a piece if paper, and immediately thought it was a note from James, but when she looked up to see utter confusion on his face, she realized it wasn't. Nervously, she began to open the paper. But not before Professor Seagul saw.

"Ms. Evans, would you care to take that note to the front and read it out loud?"

"No." she responded. Most of the Gryfindors laughed. The professor looked at her sternly. They had never liked each other. Lily sighed, and walked up to the professor.

"Now read it." He said. Lily looked anxiously around the room, and saw an owl near the window. A ministry owl. 'So that's where this came from.' She thought, and with one last glance at the owl, she read the note out loud.

"Dear Ms. Evans,

I am sorry to say that your parents were killed in a brutal attack by you-know-who, the new Dark Lord. I am sorry once again.

Gregory Latch- Minister of Magic."

Lily didn't even bother to read the list of other people. She reread parts of it to herself "parents were killed" "Lord Voldemort" "brutal attack". It was just too much. She took off, crying, running away. She didn't know where, but she had to get away.

The rest of the class sat in shock. The professor was staring out the window. James could not believe what had happened. But he knew that he had to catch Lily, before she did something stupid. He got up and ran out the door, just in time to see Lily turn the corner.

"Lily wait!" he yelled. But she ignored him. James followed her, him being more athletic, but Lily ran faster than ever, running away from her life.

James chased her through the Great Hall, and even outside, towards the forest, but she stopped there, and sat at the edge of the lake. James walked up behind her.

"Lily? You ok?"

"What do you think?" she screamed back. She was crying harder than ever. James didn't know what to do. Lily never cried. Quietly, he sat down next to her and put his arm comforting around her waist. But instead of comforting her, it made her angrier.

"Who do you think you are?" and with that, she stood up, and ran back into the castle.

James sat there alone, thinking that at least she was safe inside the castle. But he was not happy, for he had failed to comfort the girl of his dreams when she needed it, and made it even worse.

"Way to go James." He said out loud.

LILY POV

Lily ran all the way to the Gryffindor common room. Once she got there, she saw all her friends gathered around a table.

"Lily, what's the matter?" Dea asked. But Lily just ignored her, and started walking up the stairs to her dormitory. Once she got there, there was another letter on her bed. This one had the Hogwarts symbol on it. She walked over to it, and read it to herself.

Dear Ms. Evans,

I'm sending this letter to inform you that the heads' dormitory is ready for use. I have sent a letter to Mr. Potter too, and would appreciate it if you could be ready to move in tomorrow night. I also am sorry to hear about your parents, and I give you and any friends of your choice, permission to depart to the funeral this Saturday.

My best wishes,

Professor Dumbledore

Lily stared at the letter. She had completely forgotten about sharing a dorm with James. But the funeral… Why so late? It was only Tuesday… She sighed, and laid down on someone else's bed.

After what seemed like hours, but were only minutes, Crims, Dea, Emma, and Allie walked in.

"Are you ok?" Dea asked. Lily didn't answer.

"Lily… seriously… ARE YOU OK?" Emma said, but still Lily did not answer. Crims, Emma, Dea, and Allie moved to where Lily couldn't hear them.

"Does anybody have any clue as to what is wrong?" Allie asked.

"No. But I know where I can get the answer." Crims said, and walked out the door.

IN THE GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM

Crims ran down the stairs, and immediately started searching the room for somebody that could help. First she went to Sirius.

"Do you know what's wrong with Lily?" she asked.

"No, but I do know that whatever it was happened in Muggle Studies." He answered, not looking into her eyes. Obviously, he was keeping lying.

"How would you know that?" she asked.

"I saw Lily run out of the classroom, crying, and James chasing her." He answered.

"Weren't you supposed to be in class?" she asked. Sirius shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, where's James?"

"Last I saw he was down by the lake."

"Did you visit him?"

"You never want to be around James when something bad happened to Lily. But yes, I visited him, but he wouldn't answer me, except telling me that Lily's parents died." Sirius eyes popped open, and said, "I did not just say that."

"WHAT? You told me that you didn't know what was wrong." She screamed.

"He told me not to tell anyone! And that if I did, he wouldn't talk to me!" he implied.

"So you're telling the truth? Lily's parents died?"

Sirius sighed, "Yes. Don't tell James I told you."

"Oh my god." Crims said, now rushing up the stairs. "Lily?" he called when she got through the door. No one answered. But she saw Lily lying asleep, on Crims' bed. Crims walked over and covered her in blankets, Crims now crying. Eventually, Crims fell asleep on the floor, not wanting to wake Lily up by moving onto the bed.

THE NEXT MORNING

Lily awoke to Dea walking around the room, and someone in the shower. Then she noticed that she was on Crims' bed. She slowly got up, but when she remembered what had happened yesterday, she laid back down. Dea looked at Lily, sighed, and left. Then Lily heard the shower stop, and Crims opening the bathroom door, walking towards Lily.

"You ok?"

"No!" Lily answered. Crims came closer and hugged Lily.

"Are you going to stay up here all day? Because I'll keep you company so you don't have to be alone!" Lily sighed and pointed to the letter from Dumbledore, which was on the other side of the bed. Crims picked it up and read it to herself.

"Well, then I'll help you move in!" she said. But Lily didn't want to move in. She didn't want to do anything. All she wanted was her parents back. And when she thought that, she burst out crying again.

"Lily!" Crims yelled, hugging Lily again. Then she added in a whisper "Everything will be alright. Don't worry. Your parents wouldn't want you here crying for them. They would want you happy."

Lily knew Crims was right. With difficulty, she held back the tears.

"Lets go." She said.

"Go where?" Crims asked.

"Breakfast."

"Are you sure? You don't have to go."

"Positive." And with that, Lily got up and walked towards the bathroom. Crims walked down the stairs, to the common room.

James was standing there, looking worried. "How is she?" he asked.

"Ok. She wants to go downstairs for breakfast, but I don't think she should go to any classes. I was going to help her move in. But she won't answer when I volunteer…. So maybe you should help her… I mean, you are friends… that are going to live with each other…" Crims said.

"Are you sure that you don't want to?" James asked.

"Yes." Crims answered. James smiled. Then Sirius came over.

"Crims? Can I talk to you in private?" he asked. Crims looked worried, but still replied:

"Sure." Sirius led Crims to the corner of the common room.

James sat down on the love seat, by the fireplace, when Lily came walking down the steps gracefully. She looked like an angel, but James could see the sorrow in her eyes. First, she looked around for Crims, and when she saw her talking to Sirius, she smiled, the first one in awhile. Her smile made James smile, and when she turned and looked at him, he asked:

"Do you want to go to breakfast? Then we can talk to Dumbledore, and move into our dorm." At first, Lily looked like she would say no, but finally she nodded, and with one last look at Crims and Sirius, she walked out the portrait.

CRIMS AND SIRIUS

"So… um…" Sirius began. Crims was already nervous. "Do you… Do you…um… Let me start over. Doyouwanttobemygirlfriendiunderstandifyoudontjustasking." Sirius said, confused by himself. But Crims had heard all she needed.

"Are you asking me out?." She said smiling. Sirius looked even more nervous.

"Well, I completely understand why you don't want to…" he started, now sad.

"I'd love to!" she screamed.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Great. Want to meet me tonight by the lake? 7ish?" he asked.

"Sure." She smiled and skipped out the door.

BACK TO LILY

Lily and James walked down 5 floors in silence. Then James said:

"Sorry to hear 'bout your parents…" he started, nervous as to how she would respond.

"I'm the one who should be sorry about what happened at the lake." She replied.

"That was no biggy." He said. And for the first time in days, Lily laughed. And it was James Potter who made it happen. He smiled. They walked on in silence again until they made it to the Great Hall, where they sat down by Peter.

"How's it going Wormtail?" James asked. Peter didn't respond. He looked at Lily nervously, then got up and stumbled out the door.

"What's his problem?" Lily asked.

"No idea. Let's eat."

Once again, they ate in silence, Lily barely eating anything.

"Ready?" James asked.

"For what?" she said, confused.

"To ask Dumbledore about our dorm. Duh" he answered. Lily didn't laugh, but looked even more sad. "Sorry!" He quickly added.

"Never mind. No reason to be sorry." She said as she slowly walked on, towards Dumbledore. James stayed back in confusion. Remus came up behind him and elbowed him in the stomach.

"Earth to James!" he shouted. James snapped out of it and ran to catch up to Lily, who was already talking to Dumbledore.

"Second floor. Walk straight down the first hallway, and take the first right. You will find another hallway, where you walk down and take the second left." He finished, but added, "It's close to Charms. Password is 'pumpkin juice'" Lily nodded and walked off. James followed her, walking behind her.

Once they got to the second floor, Lily waited for James to catch up, who was muttering something to himself.

"What?" Lily asked.

"First right, second left." James answered. "I hate directions." Lily sighed, and started walking again, but when she got to the first right, she added:

"You know that you're going to be late for class!"

"I'm not going to class." James answered. Lily turned around.

"You don't have to do that for me"

"Yes I do." James answered. Lily smiled and started jogging the turn. James followed. Soon enough, they came upon the second left, where there was another short hallway, with a blank wall at the end.

"I always wondered what this was. Pumpkin juice!" James said.

The wall dissolved into nothing, and now what they saw was a beautiful room, with two fireplaces with blazing fires in them. Each fireplace had pictures of Lily, James, and all their friends. The furniture were all red, with a deeper red border, with sparkly beads on the edges, with a red, gold, and black fancy rug underneath each piece. The ceiling was gold, with sparkles on it, and the carpet was black, but made to look lighter, with red sparkles on it. On the wall, there was a giant poster. Lily couldn't see what it was, until she walked closer and saw that it was a map of Hogwarts. She smiled. Across the room was a door, and to both sides were two sets of staircases. Lily walked across the room and opened the door, and gasped. James followed.

Inside that door was a giant, elegant library with rows of bookcases, with every book you could imagine, all somehow squeezed into the hexagon-shaped room. In the middle, there was a coffee table and a couch and loveseat, which were all different shades of green, almost identical to the other ones. But that wasn't all. On one side of the room, instead of a green wall like the other 5, there was a giant wall of glass, overlooking the lake and grounds. And facing the glass were two chairs, right next to each other. And yet there was another door on the other wall. James walked to this one, and opened it.

What he saw was a giant bathroom, almost all black and white, but very fancy. The shower curtain was black, with the night sky on it. The carpeting was black and white, and even the wall was black and white. Lily came up behind him and said:

"Wow."

James smiled and said "Want to go look at our rooms? We can go to yours first."

Lily nodded. They walked back through the library and into the other room.

"Which one's yours?" asked James. Lily pointed to the one on her right, and now James saw that it had 'Lillian Evans' in elegant writing above the top stair. Lily immediately ran up the curved staircase, and opened the door at the top, and gasped right away.

Her room was all pink, white, and black, her favorite colors. Her queen sized bed had pink and white bedspread, with black pillows, and two night stands by it. The carpeting was white and the walls were black with pink and white added on in certain places. There were posters of all her favorite actors and singers on the walls. On one side of the room, there was a pure white chair, and a smaller fireplace with pictures of herself and friends. On the other side, was a door. Lily ran to the door, and opened it. There was an all white bathroom, with pink decorations all over.

"Amazing!" she yelled. James was still by the door, staring at her room. You could tell he liked it, and couldn't wait to see his. "Let's go!" she added.

James smiled and ran down the staircase, and turned to run up his. Lily took one last look at her room and noticed one more thing. There was a beautiful white barn owl in the corner. She walked over and noticed there was a letter attached to the cage. She read it out loud.

"Dear Ms. Evans,

Here is an owl for your own personal use. Consider it a gift for all your contribution to this school.

With love,

Professor Dumbledore."

Lily smiled and she too ran back down her stairs and up James, only to find the door open. She looked inside and saw that James had already found his owl. Then she looked at the rest of the room.

It was all green, red, and white, James favorite colors. Everything was similar to Lily's (even his fireplace had pictures of Lily on it, plus the marauders), except the color and posters. His posters were all of Quiditch, and his favorite team, England. On one side of the wall, there was a huge painting of 4th year when Gyffindor won the Quiditch Cup, and had a picture of James catching the snitch on that beautiful day. The other door was open, and Lily could see a bathroom, but Lily walked down to the library instead.

Once she got there, she sat down on one of the chairs by the wall of glass. Not to long after, James came down and sat in the other chair.

"It's beautiful." Lily said, pointing out the window, at the grounds. James nodded.

"Gorgeous." He agreed. They sat there for awhile, just talking about school. When Lily started talking about boys, James couldn't help but ask:

"Have you seen Adam lately?"

"No. Why?" she asked.

"Just wondering." James sighed. After another hour of avoiding that topic and talking about their classes, James said, "Want to go to lunch?"

Lily shook her head no, and said, "I'm still full."

James was confused. Lily had barely eaten breakfast. "You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm just not ready to face everybody. Just bring me a plate, ok?"

"Ok. Anything else?" he asked.

"Nope." She said.

"Well then, Asta la vista, baby!" Lily giggled a little.

James walked alone down the two floors, and sat down by Sirius, who was sitting by Crims. James smiled.

"Where's Lily?" Crims asked.

"Still in the dorm." He said. "She's not ready to face everyone." Crims sighed.

"How is she doing?" Allie asked.

"A little better than yesterday." James answered.

"Potions was horrible. Professor gave us tons of homework. 4 SCROLLS! And he expects us to get it done by Friday!" Emma complained.

"I think I'm gonna go back to the dorm. Bye." James said, picking up to plates and walking away.

"Did he hear me? 4 SCROLLS BY FRIDAY? Emma screamed.

IN THE HEADS' DORM

James muttered 'Pumpkin juice' and walked straight to the library. But Lily was not there. He then decided to walk up to her room and see if she was there. And she was.

James walked through the door and into her room and immediately saw Lily. She was sleeping on her bed, with the covers all messed up around her. It seemed so early, but James did not care. He walked over and tucked her in, treating her like a queen, brushed her hair out of her face, and walked back to turn off the light. Right when he was about to walk out, he heard the most distance, soft voice.

"James?"

"Yes, Lily?"

"Would you like to come to my parents' funeral?"

"Sure. Good night Lily" James said, but realized it wasn't night, so he closed the curtains on her windows, and started towards the door.

"James?" he heard again.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

James smiled and walked out the door.

THE NEXT DAY

Lily woke up early in the morning, being as she fell asleep earlier than usual. She had only awakened in the middle of the night once, after a dream about her parents. They were at her platform nine and three quarters before her first year.

"Bye Lils." Her dad said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Bye honey. Don't forget us. Owl us if you need to. Just don't forget us. We love you and will always protect you." Her mom added, also hugging Lily. With one last wave, they left.

Lily had awoken crying silently, but quickly fell back asleep. That day in her dream had also been James' first sight of Lily.

(Marauders, the same day as the dream)

"And then Blair caught the snitch, winning it to Ireland." An eleven year old James said.

"Well, Blair is brilliant." A younger Sirius added. The other three laughed. Just then, James noticed a girl his age with her parents.

"Anyone know who that is?" he asked.

"Who?" Remus asked.

"Her." James said, pointing.

"Who knows?" Sirius said. "Why do you need to know?"

"She's… well… pretty." James answered.

"OoOoOo. Someone's got a crush!" Peter said.

"Shut it Peter." James yelled. "She looks confused." He said, after her parents left. "Let's go help."

"Fine. But you owe me." Sirius said.

A much younger Lily looked around, not knowing where to go. Her parents had told her to go straight on the train, but still, she was frozen to the spot. Once again, she looked around and saw four boys her own age walking straight towards her.

"Name's Potter. James Potter." He said, sticking out his hand for her to shake.

"Lily. Lily Evans." She answered, not taking his hand. 'Never make contact with strangers' she was always told. She couldn't even believe she gave away her name, but 'for Peter's sake' she thought, 'they're my own age.'

James took back his hand. "First year?" he asked. She just stared at him. "Do you play Quidditch? I do." He tried again. Still, no answer. "Seeker. I know I'm actually pretty good. Might even make the team in my first year. At least, that's what my dad and I think. I started playing when I was five. Since then, I've been born to ride a broom."

Lily already dislike this 'James.' 'For one, he is bragging within the first minutes of greeting. Secondly, he looks spoiled and arrogant. And finally, he was still talking. And I'm not even listening'. So she focused on what he was saying.

"…so since then, every Wednesday, all the neighbors put their shoes and umbrellas tied together on the edge of the road. And my house elf insists that I wear these horrid lime green shoes. Like, ewe. So, just to please her, I wore them once, to my father's work party. But someone spilled punch all over them, which made her very angry."

Lily shook her head and walked onto the train, where she met Crims.

"How'd I do?" James asked them.

"Well, you managed to brag about Quidditch, and tell the monkey, umbrella, and ugly green shoe story all in one minute." Remus frowned, and walked on to the train.

"You never learned anything about her except her name, but she learned that your neighbors have an umbrella problem and that you own a pair of 'horrid lime green shoes'." Sirius added, also running onto the train. Peter gave him the thumbs down sign and he too followed Sirius. Just as the 11 o'clock bell rang, he said to himself:

"Lily Evans will be mine."

And with one last look at the outside world, he stepped on to the train, muttering two more words as he went:

"I hope."

BACK TO THE PRESENT

Lily walked down to the Gryffindor table for breakfast starving. She wasn't fully ready to face everyone, but her stomach kept reminding her that she needed to eat.

"Hey guys." Lily said, as she sat down next to Crims, who could easily see the depression in her eyes.

"Hey." Emma said, as everyone else smiled. Lily immediately started chomping on some chicken.

"What's your first class?" Dea asked.

" 'ivination" Lily muttered through her chicken.

"We all have Charms…" Crims said.

"Don't know why you would ever want to take Divination…" Sirius said. Lily ignored him, and moved on to some corn.

They all ate mostly in silence until the bell sounded through the halls.

"Bye." They all said together, with James adding:

"Good luck with that Professor Cummings." Lily nodded and quickly ran up to the north tower, but not before long, she ran into Adam.

"Hey babe." He said. "Sorry 'bout you parents."

Lily smiled sadly and said "Don't worry about it."

Adam pulled her into a hug, gently kissing her on the cheek. "Bye."

"Bye." She said and with that, took off running up the last staircase to the trapdoor. Lily heard the professor talking, and new she was late. Quickly, she went up the ladder.

"Ms. Evans." The professor greeted her. This professor never yelled. "I could see that you were going to be late, so that is why I have not yet explained your first assignment. Sit."

Lily did as she was told, and sat in the back.

"Your assignment is to make a graph of the planets' rotation, and write an essay explaining it. You will be doing it with partners that I have picked. Due next Tuesday. Here is the list of partners:

Longbottom, Elway. Sacker, Mcforaign. Lenny, Genter. Forson, Craigon. Jacobson, Evans."

Lily had a vague idea of who Jacobson was. 'Amanda… wait no, its Amy.' She decided. She looked around the room and recognized a rather pretty 6th year Hufflepuff, with red hair and green eyes.

"Amy?" she asked, walking towards her.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you." Amy answered back. "So…"

"Should we start working? We only have one more class before Tuesday." Lily asked.

"Yeah. That would be a good idea." Lily laughed, and looked around for the professor, who was passing out the paper. When she got to their table, the professor stopped.

"Do you realize how much you two look alike?" she asked.

And for the first time, Lily saw it. They both had red hair, were around the same height. Except for the eyes, they could almost be sisters. Amy shrugged her shoulders, smiling, and started looking in her Divination book. Lily followed suit. They worked on the poster non-stop, until the bell rung. Amy gathered up her books and said,

"Bye."

Next Lily went to Defence Against the Dark Arts. She was glad that all her friends were also in it. The class went on, with not much happening. After class, Lily walked out with Dea, Emma, Crims, Allie, and the Marauders.

"Um… do you guys want to go to my parents' funeral?" she asked.

"Sure." Crims said.

"Why not?" Remus answered.

"Of course!" Dea said. And soon enough, they had all said yes. Lily smiled and they all walked to lunch.

Lily sat down next to Emma, and immediately started talking.

"How's it going with you and Brett?"

"Peachy. Wonderful. And we barely even went on one date, but it feels so…so… right." Emma replied, smiling. "What about you and Adam?"

"Fine." Lily answered.

The day went on, with Lily slowly coming back to old self. Amy approached her on her way to the Heads' dorm.

"Hi!" Lily said.

"Hey! I was wondering if you wanted to meet to work on the project sometime soon?" Amy asked.

"Sure. How 'bout 6ish on Thursday?"

"Fine. See you then." Amy answered and walked away. Lily continued her journey to the dorm, but not before long she ran into someone else. Or something.

Whatever it was was cold, and it wasted no time to push her rather forcefully onto the ground, where Lily decided it was no longer a what, but a who. The moment Lily hit the floor, the torches along the wall went out, and Lily was left in darkness.

Unfortunately, she had landed on her stomach, forehead hitting the cold stone floor rather hard. She could sense someone close by, watching her every move. Lily decided it was best not to lay face down, especially unarmed, so she took out her wand form her side pocket, and, shaking, she turned over.

All she saw was darkness. It was so dark that it hurt her eyes to only see black. But she still had the sense of someone near by. Her head throbbed from the pain of landing hard on the floor. With adrenaline pumping through her, she tightened the grip on her wand, and raised the other hand to rub her head. But that is not what she touched. She could feel rough, bumpy, cold flesh that made her gag. And even more, the torches lit back up, revealing what she had in her hand.

What she saw made her scream. She screamed so loud, it was possible to damage anyone's near by ears. But that was not her purpose for screaming. She screamed out of pure fear, fear of what she had seen.

For kneeling so close to her was the dark hooded figure, with Lily's hand on the tip of his ear. But he was so close that his eye was a mere centimeter away from her's. This eye was pure red and murderous, and stared right into the frightened Lily's pupil. Lily could tell that this hooded guy was no normal man, and desperately tried to let go of his ear, but she was too late.

The man grabbed her hand and forced her fingers apart, releasing his ear, and making her scream die out. With his other hand, he snatched up her wand and threw it down the corridor. He laughed a horrible high pitch laugh, just as loud as her scream was. Still laughing, he took out her own wand and pointed it straight at her. Ever so slowly, he moved his wand forward until it touched the tip of her nose.

Lily thought she could hear footsteps approaching, but she hated to admit that they would be too late. She was in the middle of a deserted corridor only the Heads used. Scared to death, she listened to her attackers words.

"Would you rather die painfully, or slowly?"

"Please…don't!" she yelled, frightened. She saw him smile, bearing his hideous teeth.

Lily held back tears in her eyes. She would not let him have the pleasure of seeing her weak and humble. If anything, she would die trying. So she did the best she could to release his grip, but only made him decide that moving his hand to her shoulder would make it worse for her, pinning her down. For a few moments they stared into each others' eyes in silence, until he smiled even brighter and, letting out a laugh, he took in air to begin a spell.

Desperately, she whimpered out a "help!", with tears now flowing freely down her cheek. The now louder footsteps were getting closer, but not yet close enough. She struggled against his deathly grip, but it did no use. She heard him say "the slow way then," and then an incantation. All went black.

IN HALLWAY

Amy continued her walk down the corridor until she heard footsteps from behind her. She turned around and saw a boy with messy jet black hair.

"Hi." She said.

"Hey. Don't believe we've met before. Name's James." James asked.

"Amy. You going to Quiditch practice?" she asked, noticing him in full uniform.

"Yep." He replied. And so their conversation went on until they reached the staircase to the first floor.

"Did you hear that?" James asked.

"What?" Amy answered.

"There it is again. Someone screaming." James paused to listen. A few moments later he recognized the voice. "Oh no…" and with that he took off running.

Amy watched him in confusion. She decided to follow him, but could not catch up.

James heart was pounding hard. Cold sweat dripped down his face. He knew it was Lily, and he would not waste a second to save her. He followed her scream until it died out, but he had heard enough to know that she had been on her way to the Heads' dorm. He ran until he came upon the final corridor, where he turned.

Amy followed James the best she could, always being behind him by at least 30 feet.

James looked down the hallway and what he saw made his stomach drop and his heart skip a beat. Lily was lying motionless on the ground, and a hooded figure was running the opposite way, towards an open window, where he jumped out.

James ran for all he was worth towards Lily's body. His heart was pounding so hard, it seemed to be pounding straight through his chest. 'Please don't be dead. Please' he prayed. He knelt beside Lily's motionless body and put his hand behind her head, moving her upper body on top of him.

"Lily?" he whispered, gently shaking her. "Lily, please wake up." She didn't move. "Lily, this isn't funny!" James was in shock. "LILY! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME!" he now shook her harder, but yet, she didn't budge. "Lily! I can't possibly live without you! Don't you even think of leaving! Hold on!" Lily's once bright eyes were now slightly faded, staring blankly into James' eyes. James couldn't take it anymore. "LILY! WAKE UP! YOU CAN"T BE DEAD!" James had never cried in his life, except for when he was little, but he couldn't hold them back. Tears rolled down his cheek and landed on her face. He shook her even harder, more violently. There was no way the love of his life was going to leave him. He cried for Lily and Lily only.

Amy finally reached James panting heavily.

"GO GET DUMBLEDORE!" James screamed. Amy didn't hesitate. She took off once again.

James shifted Lily so her whole body was in his lap. He squeezed her hand. He realized how cold her skin was. He moved her head so their cheeks were touching. "Please let this be a nightmare!" he prayed. But he knew that you can't feel pain in nightmares, and there was no doubt that this was the worst pain he had ever felt.

James stayed with Lily, whispering into her ear that everything would be ok, and keeping an eye out for Dumbledore. He had tried to feel a pulse, luckily he could, but it was slow and off pace. Finally, he decided that he would meet them halfway. He gently lifted her up and walked swiftly but shakily towards the Hospital Wing.

When he had not gotten even a quarter of the way there, he ran into Dumbledore.

"Professor! I…I… I think I felt a pulse… but she needs help! " James was out of breath. "There was this… hooded dude… pointed her wand right at her!" he said, nodding his head towards the still motionless Lily. "Then he jumped… straight out the window! Ha… serves him right…" James was still in shock. He took one last glance at Dumbledore, winked, and fainted.

Dumbledore sighed and summoned two stretchers to take them both to the Hospital Wing.

James awoke with a start. Everything around him was blurry, until he realized that he didn't have his glasses. He sat half-up up felt around him, but still found no glasses. He sighed, got up and walked around.

"Mrs. Gerald?" He said, calling the healer/nurse. No one answered. He walked to the side of his bed and could see the dim outline of a nightstand. He strolled over and felt around the top. Feeling nothing, he rolled over the bed to the other side, and saw a faint speck of gold, which had to be his glasses. He grabbed it, but his watch was not what he found.

James felt flesh, and realized that it was a hand and a bracelet. He immediately let go and turned around, seeing another blurry speck of gold. This time it was his glasses. He put them on, and, breathing heavily, he looked at the person he had grabbed and shrieked.

It was Lily, but a pale, sick, not-so-bright-looking, Lily. Her once beautiful hair was a mess and her once shining eyes were gloomy. Her body was lying crooked and He walked nearer and grabbed the same hand, noticing the bracelet was a locket. He opened it. Inside it was a picture of Lily and her parents.

LILY POV

Lily heard familiar voices. She tried to open her eyes, but found she couldn't. Instead, she struggled to interpret the voices.

She could make out a "she", "ok", "right?" and "James". So James was there. And that last voice must have been Crims. She listened harder.

"I"- "walking in"- "when"- "scream." Lily was almost sure it was James, but the depression in his words made it sound more like someone else.

"Hope"-"she is"-"fine." That sounded more like Dea.

"Not me." That was James. What did he mean, not me? He wants me to die?

James continued: "I don't hope and want. I need. Lily is my love."

Lily cried. It was miraculous that she could still even cry. But the tears fell down to her pillow.

OTHERS POV

James spent almost all of the day next to Lily. All of her friends came at least twice, but there had been no answer to all of theirs question. 'Will she be ok?'

It was Wednesday night, 7:00. James, Sirius, Crims, and Dea were surrounding Lily's bed.

"She's going to be OK right?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know…" Dea answered.

"How could this happen? I was just walking in a corridor and then I heard that terrible scream…" James couldn't finish.

"I hope that she's fine…" Sirius said.

"Not me." James said surprisingly, but then added. "I don't hope and want. I need. Lily is my love!"

Crims smiled sadly, and looked back at Lily, but immediately gasped. There were tears falling down Lily's cheeks.

NEXT DAY

Lily finally mustered the strength to open her eyes. She couldn't move her head around, but with just her eyes, she didn't see anyone. A calendar on the wall said that today was Thursday. Two days after her attack. She attempted to sigh, but already found trouble breathing. She had gone through an entire day of torture, listening to her visitors' conversations, unable to move at all. But she had gathered a ton of information:

According to Dumbledore, she had been attacked by 'Lord Voldemort.' The same guy who killed her parents. But that was not all. Astonishingly, she survived the dreadful killing curse.

During her coma-type state, she also heard some tear-jerking stuff. Crims called her the 'bestest friend ever', Dea said that she wouldn't be able to survive without her, Emma couldn't even talk, and Allie claimed that without Lily, life would be grey and hopeless.

Lily stayed lying down, thinking, until finally, Mrs. Gerald (healer) came in.

"Why, Ms. Evans, your awake!" she exclaimed, rather loudly.

"WHAT!" yelled a new, familiar voice. "SHE'S AWAKE!"

Lily moved her eyes so she could look in the direction from where the voice came. A masculine shadow appeared from behind a white curtain, separating the beds.

LILY POV

"Lily?" The same voice said, yelling. And then the shadow disappeared, and now there stood James. But not the ordinary James. Much color had drained out of his face, and he looked stressed. "You're awake!"

He ran joyfully next to her bed, bent down and hugged her roughly, but with care. Their cheeks touched.

"I thought you were gone and would never come back. You were hit by the killing curse! What could be worse? What would I do if you… if… you…" James stuttered. His eyes were watering. "I would probably die too. What's the point of living if there isn't a Lily there with you? You're the light of my life! Sirius always told me that it was unhealthy to love someone so much! But I know that it's worth it. True love always is!"

Lily wanted to say something back, but she couldn't open her mouth. For once, she wanted to hug him back, but couldn't move her arms. She never knew he cared about her this much… if only he could know that. She tried her hardest to say something nice, like a "Thanks James. I guess all those years of hating you were worthless," but all that came out was a:

"Ewe." (a/n- like the ewe meaning disgusting)

'Oh, no.' Thought Lily. 'That didn't sound right…"

James eased his pressure on his hug. Slowly, he stepped back, looking slightly hurt. Lily's face was expressionless.

'Oh, please, don't let this be happening…'

James stopped backing up, and switched to yelling. "EWE! Is that all you have to say? I just spilled out my heart to you! You could've at least said thanks!" James was now crying. Lily couldn't take it. She had never seen James cry in person.

"I never really believed that you hated me. But I did believe it when you wanted to be friends! But I guess that I was wrong. You do hate me!" And with that, James stormed out of the Hospital Wing.

JAMES POV

James was frozen to the spot. He was heartbroken. He considered that he had wasted 6 years of his life on one girl, a girl who said 'Ewe' when he spilled his feelings on how he felt about her. He summoned up the strength to run out of the Hospital Wing, only to run into Adam.

"Hey! How's Lily?" Adam asked.

James couldn't speak.

"I've been worried sick. We had a date planned yesterday, and I was busy planning the buffet and music when Crims came up and told me the news… She is ok right?" Adam continued.

James ignored him and walked on. Even though he was heartbroken and shattered like glass, he couldn't make himself hate Lily.

LILY POV

Two whole days passed. Lily was slowly getting better, and had been told that she would be taken to her parent's funeral tomorrow with a walking stick. She was on medication, and could now make noises, but not yet words. She could move her head, feet, hands, legs, and arms, but her throat seemed to be the most affected.

Adam had visited her twice, but James never did come back. Adam had brought her flowers, James didn't send anything. Lily tried telling herself that Adam was her boyfriend, and James was the friend. Just a friend.

(conv. In head)

: 'Some friend you are' her conscience told her.

: 'I didn't mean it! It was just a mistake' Lily fought back.

:'Right…'

: 'I am healing from the killing curse. I couldn't even speak!'

: 'Whatever you say…'

Lily told herself over and over again that she had done nothing wrong. But in the end, guilt took over. She needed to explain to James. The problem was she couldn't speak.

By Friday morning, she was already preparing for her parents' funeral. Dea helped Lily put on a black knee-length dress. Crims wore a black skirt and white blouse. Emma had a short black dress on, and Allie, wore black pants and a nice blouse. But none of the marauders seemed to be coming; Lily hadn't seen any of them since the visit from James.

Two hours before the funeral started, Dumbledore came and told them that a train was waiting.

Lily grabbed her walking stick, and slowly stood up. Crims put her arm around Lily's shoulder on one side, while Emma took the other. Dea and Allie walked ahead of them.

The walk through school was horrible. A group of Ravenclaws followed them the whole time, whispering to one another. A group of Slytherines pointed and laughed at them. Hufflepuffs had decided that staring goggle-eyed at them was funny.

Lily paid no attention to any of this. She stared at her feet and let Crims and Emma guide her. The only time she looked up was when they finally reached the train. Dea and Allie started to help get Lily on that train. Lily took one last glance at the school. But it was not the just the school that she saw. Under a tree near the lake was James.

James didn't notice Lily. He didn't seem to notice anything. There was black circles around his eyes, and he stared blankly into space.

Lily looked away, and allowed herself to be helped onto the train.

The train ride to Lily's hometown was no fun. Everybody slept except Lily, who spent her time staring out the window.

Finally, they arrived outside of the cemetery. It was a beautiful autumn day, exactly opposite of their moods. In the distance, they could see the outline of people. Crims and Allie helped Lily toward the crowd.

Soon enough, they were joined in the crowd. Lily looked towards the center, and saw a tomb. With tears already forming in her eyes, Lily read the inscription:

'RIP

Mathew and Marissa Evans

Husband and wife, loving parents and supporters.

We will always remember you.'

Lily read over the 'loving parents'. Lily loved her parents and they loved her. Lily knew they loved Petunia too, but couldn't help but thinking that Petunia didn't deserve them. Lily looked at her and saw that she wasn't even crying, while Lily was balling her eyes out.

'Oh, Petunia,' she thought, "If you had the chance, would you change your attitude? I never heard you say 'I love you' to your own mom and dad. Don't you think that you owned them that?'

The procession had already started. A priest and two servers were coming closer and closer to the crowd. But the only thing that Lily saw were the two caskets they were carrying. She couldn't believe that two brown, ugly caskets that represented death could carry two beautiful people that Lily loved. Slowly, the priest reached the crowd.

The caskets were placed right at Lily's feet. Looking down, Lily's parent's eyes stared right into hers. She couldn't hear the priest's words. She couldn't feel her friend's hands on her shoulders. She didn't see Petunia's arm around some guy. The only thing that mattered was that two of the few people she loved were dead. She tried her hardest to remember every detail of them while she could:

The blue eyes that Lily's mom shared with her. Her dad's beard the always tickled her neck when the hugged. The arms that hugged her good night. The hands that wrote her letters every week.

Lily looked up. 'Why's everyone wearing black for these once happy people?' she thought.

The funeral ended without Lily noticing. Everyone left except Lily and her friends.

Lily walked over to the grave and knelt down next to the pile of fresh dirt. She stared blankly through watering eyes.

"Lily?" Dea called. "We have to get going. Sorry."

Lily nodded. She bent over and kissed the inscription of 'Mat and Marissa' on the grave. One single tear fell. She told herself that that tear was the last.

They went straight to Hogwarts after the funeral. This time the train ride was a little better, and Lily never shed a tear.

Finally, they reached Hogwarts. Crims came out first to help Lily out. Quietly, they walked, or in Lily's case limped, up to the Heads' Dorm. Lily knew this was her chance to talk to James. Since Mrs. Gerald claimed that Lily wouldn't regain her speech till the next couple days, Lily decided she would write everything down and force James to read it out loud.

Taking a deep breath, she walked inside.

Lily looked all around the room, but saw no one. She decided to write the letter now, in her room. Taking another breath, she walked up the stairs.

When Lily reached her room, she ran straight to her desk and sat down, digging out a parchment and a feather.

CRIMS

Crims walked straight to the Gryffindor common room after walking Lily to her dorm. She had her first date with Sirius, and couldn't wait.

She changed into a black short skirt, and a pink blouse. Looking herself over in the mirror, she only could think of Lily. And James. Slowly, she walked out the door.

SIRIUS

Sirius was the only person who knew where James was hiding. Sirius was actually the one who requested the Room of Requirement. Sirius now stood in front of his mirror admiring what he saw. He glanced at his clock, and immediately ran downstairs.

Crims and Sirius, lily finding out


End file.
